Glyph Atom RAID USB SSD partition / drive is not recognized by Windows 10 / Lenovo P50
Hello - I’m a recent customer of the Atom Raid SSD, and I’ve experienced some fairly severe instability, while using the drive to store files for a system restore. Unfortunately, this means that if there is truly a problem here, then it may have severe consequences in terms of data loss. I have about 20 yrs of IT experience, and have installed probably over 100 of these types of drives, and I haven’t seen this level of blunt terminal function, so I’m hoping it’s just a small issue relating to the RAID, USB-Type C, or Atom specifics. Following is what happened:
1) Hooked the drive up, and formatted the drive according to instructions in the manual “New Simple Volume”, etc. in Disk Manager
2) Proceeded to copy the contents of the same system to the drive, which occurred without issue
3) Opened up multiple files once they were resident on the Atom to double confirm the files where there and intact. They were there and could be opened with no issue.
4) Restored the system
5) Connected the Atom to the restored system
6) Attempted to access the drive, but couldn’t
7) As per the attachments, the drive is recognized in the system, but has no type of partition in disk mgr (no media), and prompts to Insert a disc when clicking on the drive in windows explorer.
I have exhausted uninstalling / reinstalling drivers, USB drivers, devices, UEFI changes, 3rd party partition / file / USB drive recovery software, and DISK based CMD manipulations. I’ve also reviewed probably over 25 blogs / help guides for similar problems. I also tried both connecting the USB-Type C connector and USB-Type C / USB adapter, in conjunction with all of these other steps. The issue functionally is that other than the device manager and just the disk recognition in DM, the OS and/or software simply can’t recognize that there’s even a drive connected.
I’m thinking that the data files are there, but the resident flash coding might have a problem. But either way, I need to get to the bottom of this quickly. Can anyone advise on some known issues that might involve this type of configuration - i.e. RAID/USB-Type C, and these types of symptoms? Thanks.
DevM-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
DM-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
Drive-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
1) Hooked the drive up, and formatted the drive according to instructions in the manual “New Simple Volume”, etc. in Disk Manager
2) Proceeded to copy the contents of the same system to the drive, which occurred without issue
3) Opened up multiple files once they were resident on the Atom to double confirm the files where there and intact. They were there and could be opened with no issue.
4) Restored the system
5) Connected the Atom to the restored system
6) Attempted to access the drive, but couldn’t
7) As per the attachments, the drive is recognized in the system, but has no type of partition in disk mgr (no media), and prompts to Insert a disc when clicking on the drive in windows explorer.
I have exhausted uninstalling / reinstalling drivers, USB drivers, devices, UEFI changes, 3rd party partition / file / USB drive recovery software, and DISK based CMD manipulations. I’ve also reviewed probably over 25 blogs / help guides for similar problems. I also tried both connecting the USB-Type C connector and USB-Type C / USB adapter, in conjunction with all of these other steps. The issue functionally is that other than the device manager and just the disk recognition in DM, the OS and/or software simply can’t recognize that there’s even a drive connected.
I’m thinking that the data files are there, but the resident flash coding might have a problem. But either way, I need to get to the bottom of this quickly. Can anyone advise on some known issues that might involve this type of configuration - i.e. RAID/USB-Type C, and these types of symptoms? Thanks.
DevM-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
DM-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
Drive-Error-2017-03-05.pdf
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Another thought: Depending on how the PC was "restored", it may be possible to recover some files off of the system drive itself. Pop the system drive out and attach it to another PC. Run data recovery or "undelete" software on the drive to try and recover data still in the "empty space" of the drive. You won't be able to recover the full system, but you may be able to recover the most critical user data files.
you must connect it to a USB3 and not a USB2 connector. Since you mentioned you tried the USB-C connector I'm pretty sure you got this correct. Did you eject the drive before you reset the system? If it is not readable on any other computer then the device is defective.
ASKER
Thanks to both marsilies and D. Johnson. Appreciate the comments.
Marsilies - probably better two say the system was Reset, wiping the drive and reinstalling windows w/no data or programs. This was due to a corrupt Windows install - which the Reset system did fix. And yes, I understand having redundant data is important, and we did, but there is a lot of unnecessary overhead in dealing with this device. I understand all of your recommendations, but they all seem to be focused on what I'm trying to avoid by getting the drive readable on (any) system. So far I've tried 3 different windows systems and two Apple systems - no luck. I've also contacted Glyph, but they are non-responsive, which resonates that they may indeed have some defects. Honestly, I think they have defects in their entire approach. No drivers, no recovery tools, no utilities, and no support line - just an email. If this is a hardware defect, it's the biggest coincidence I've seen, since everything worked fine all the way up to trying to re-connect to the Reset system. But...see below.
D. Johnson - You mentioned one thing that I believe I "didn't" do, with is eject the drive before removing it. However, it didn't since it was using a Quick Removal policy. It really isn't readable by any other system, so it may be defective. As I mention above, that's a pretty big coincidence, but maybe the lack of ejecting or a loose cable caused enough of a power disruption that there was some type of cache or flash error.
All - One area that I'm suspicious of is that there may be a RAID configuration issue causing this. But please keep the comments coming, as I'm likely going to use EE as my last ditch effort.
Marsilies - probably better two say the system was Reset, wiping the drive and reinstalling windows w/no data or programs. This was due to a corrupt Windows install - which the Reset system did fix. And yes, I understand having redundant data is important, and we did, but there is a lot of unnecessary overhead in dealing with this device. I understand all of your recommendations, but they all seem to be focused on what I'm trying to avoid by getting the drive readable on (any) system. So far I've tried 3 different windows systems and two Apple systems - no luck. I've also contacted Glyph, but they are non-responsive, which resonates that they may indeed have some defects. Honestly, I think they have defects in their entire approach. No drivers, no recovery tools, no utilities, and no support line - just an email. If this is a hardware defect, it's the biggest coincidence I've seen, since everything worked fine all the way up to trying to re-connect to the Reset system. But...see below.
D. Johnson - You mentioned one thing that I believe I "didn't" do, with is eject the drive before removing it. However, it didn't since it was using a Quick Removal policy. It really isn't readable by any other system, so it may be defective. As I mention above, that's a pretty big coincidence, but maybe the lack of ejecting or a loose cable caused enough of a power disruption that there was some type of cache or flash error.
All - One area that I'm suspicious of is that there may be a RAID configuration issue causing this. But please keep the comments coming, as I'm likely going to use EE as my last ditch effort.
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Thanks, Marsilies - I missed the phone number - likely due to me not having a lot of time for this type of thing :) Glad I have help from resources like you on EE. Because we had some deep issues that even Microsoft Support couldn't figure out relating to Skype for Bus screen sharing, we wiped the drive - so I'm pretty sure the data's gone. But as mentioned we have a redundant copy, so we're restoring from that. Just do to time constraints, I'm going to move on and assume the drive defective -- and pursue a replacement with Glyph. Thanks for all your help.
ASKER
Thanks to everyone for helping.
Thanks for the points. Good thing you had a redundant copy.
Again though, for clarification, there's basically two uses for "wipe the drive" in PC parlance, and they mean different things, with different implications.
A lot of the times, when people refer to "wiping the drive," especially in the context of re-installing an OS, they mean they reformatted the drive, or possible deleted and recreated partitions. Neither of these actually remove data from the drive, they just mark it as empty. It's not until data is rewritten onto the drive that the original data is overwritten, so even after a "wipe and re-install," it's possible there's still data recoverable from the drive.
The other use of "wipe the drive" is do use actual drive-wiping software, which goes and writes new "junk" data (usually randomly generated) to every sector on the drive. This takes a lot longer than a reformat or repartition, so typically isn't done for an OS re-install, but only when the drive is being disposed of, or sold off or given away. It'd be good to do a full wipe of a laptop drive before selling the laptop, for example.
Which is why, when I hear "we wiped the drive and re-installed Windows," I think that there's a chance there's still data on the drive.
Again though, for clarification, there's basically two uses for "wipe the drive" in PC parlance, and they mean different things, with different implications.
A lot of the times, when people refer to "wiping the drive," especially in the context of re-installing an OS, they mean they reformatted the drive, or possible deleted and recreated partitions. Neither of these actually remove data from the drive, they just mark it as empty. It's not until data is rewritten onto the drive that the original data is overwritten, so even after a "wipe and re-install," it's possible there's still data recoverable from the drive.
The other use of "wipe the drive" is do use actual drive-wiping software, which goes and writes new "junk" data (usually randomly generated) to every sector on the drive. This takes a lot longer than a reformat or repartition, so typically isn't done for an OS re-install, but only when the drive is being disposed of, or sold off or given away. It'd be good to do a full wipe of a laptop drive before selling the laptop, for example.
Which is why, when I hear "we wiped the drive and re-installed Windows," I think that there's a chance there's still data on the drive.
From what I read in the manual, this is just a weird device:
https://www.glyphtech.com/sites/default/files/product_documents/AtomRAID%20SSD%20Manual_0.pdf
"AtomRAlD SSD enclosure contains two M2 Solid State drives in RAID 0, which function as one single volume. AtomRAID SSD cannot be RAIDed to other modes."
Typically, a RAID 0 device is not something you want to keep a backup on. This might be good as a device for a scratch disk.
It really sounds like the device, or one of the two M2 Solid State drives in it, may be defective. It has a 3 year warranty, so I'd try contacting the manufacturer for support:
https://www.glyphtech.com/support.html